Lake_Hood

I booked an all Business Class Alaska award ticket for my honeymoon.

Our route was as follows:

ANC-SEA on Alaska
SEA-AMS on Delta
FLR-CDG (overnight) - SFO on Air France
SFO - SEA - ANC on Alaska

We were able to check out bags all the way through the Amsterdam from Anchorage. However, upon our arrival in Amsterdam, our bags didn't make it. I understand this happens, but the KLM staff in Amsterdam were difficult to deal with. They didn't know Delta's policies in terms of compensation and directed us to a phone number that we could call for Delta (a US number). They didn't offer any help outside of that and filing a claim. I could have used skype over my cell phone, but I left my adapter and laptop charger in my bag. My phone & laptop were both dead. Additionally, they kept telling us to wait because our bags might show up. We waited for over two hours, but had to leave because we had a connecting flight booked on a separate ticket. It took over two additional days for our bags to reach our final destination and we had no toiletries or extra cloths. We were staying in a spot that was fairly remote and didn't have many options for fresh cloths (additionally we didn't have a rental car). I ended up wearing the same thing for over three days. On top of that, I wasn't really sure what would be reimbursed or not because KLM (delta's "representative") didn't know and didn't feel like they had a duty to know Delta's policy. Finally, they told us that we would have to make the trip back to the airport to pick up our bags because they didn't have representatives at our destination. Luckily our hotel offered to pick up our bags for us (it was over a 30 minute drive and we didn't have a car as I mentioned earlier)

Upon our return we had expected to spend the evening in Paris. However upon our arrival, our bags did not show up. We went to the Air France counter and it took a while to get to the customer service agent. Once we did, he was rude and really unhelpful. It took well over 3 hours, but they finally find our bags. The only issue was that we no longer had time to go into Paris (as we were staying out at the airport) and all the restaurant (other than McDonald's) were closed. We missed the reservations I had at a restaurant in town and spent the last night of our honeymoon eating at McDonald's.

Finally, our flight arrived a bit late into SFO, but we had booked a connection that was over 3 hours long, so we thought we were fine. We were flying business class so our bags had sky priority tags (not sure what those do because they don't seem to make your bags come off first). The issue was when our bags were the third to last off the plane (there were a few people left around the carousel and it was an A380 so it took a really long time). We ended up having to run to our connection. Luckily, it was a bit delayed so we were able to make the flight. However, given what had happened before, we were not happy.

I am not sure this warrants an email to Alaska Airlines as this was mostly on other carries and this type of thing does happen. Lost baggage happens and it is unfortunate that 3 incidents happened to us on our honeymoon (although our bags were only lost for an extended period of time once). I have had it happen before (although it has been a while) and it was relatively stress free. I didn't not even think about writing the airline then. However, on this trip, customer service seemed to be systematically lacking from their partners. I would think flying business class would make it easier, but it really didn't. They had a dedicated Sky Priority person in both AMS and CDG, but didn't have a separate line. The sky priority agent would just call people over from the general line. I haven't reach out to anybody yet and was wondering if you thought that this warrants some sort of complaint.

PDXPremier

Even though you had to eat at McDonald's at least you were still in PARIS The first two nights of my honeymoon were spent at the Fresno Airport Holiday Inn since we were flying on miles and our flight didn't leave for a few days...at least we ordered room service to make it feel special.

I doubt there is very much AS can do since this involved multiple airlines but as my wife always says, "What if all you had to do was ASK??"

beckoa

Wirelessly posted (beckoa's BB: Mozilla/5.0 (BlackBerry; U; BlackBerry 9810; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.11+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/7.1.0.694 Mobile Safari/534.11+)

On Alaska awards, if there is an issue I contact the carrier there was an issue with- in this case AF/DL. So I'd send them a message versus AS.

channa

+1

I don't see where AS screwed up here. Even if AS mishandled the interline in SEA, it's still KL's responsibility to get you the bag.

For future reference, I see a few areas where you could have improved the situation. First was the toiletries -- all baggage office usually have basic toiletries. If you ask, they'll give you an overnight kit. Not the best stuff in the world, but a toothbrush and deodorant if you're in a bind is useful.

Second, the carrier on which you arrives is responsible for handling the baggage mishandle, regardless of whose fault it was (could have been AS's fault in SEA, who knows, KL will go after AS if it is, not your problem). If KL doesn't know DL's authorization limits, tell them to call someone and find out. Having them put it on you was not right.

Third, laptop and Skype is a must internationally, I think you learned that one.

Fourth, they always tell you to wait for your bags because it saves them courier fees. However, they should be able to track them. Usually when they say wait, it's because they know where it is (e.g., it misconnected to Flight 123, it's on Flight 234 arriving in 90 minutes, you can wait around if you'd like). If you're doing them a favor, ask for something in return (e.g., meal and travel voucher for the inconvenience -- they may balk on the travel voucher and you can secure that later through CS, but meal voucher while you wait is perfectly reasonable and low cost to them). But don't wait around unless you want to (they're responsible for delivering it to you).

Fifth, they are responsible for getting it to your hotel/address that you provide. Even if you're going onward to another destination, if that means they have to forward it to another carrier, they can pay the other carrier to courier it to your hotel.

I think they took advantage of your lack of familiarity with this type of situation. Making the hotel pick up the bags when they're technically on the hook, asking you wait around without tracking info or even providing food/beverage while you wait, and not authorizing interim clothing expenses when needed, etc. If they're DL's representative, they're on the hook for knowing DL's policy. DL is paying them to do this.

I think DL handles CS matters for AF as well, so you may be able to write a consolidated complaint to DL and see what they do for you.

Good luck!
1

UAPremierExec

Did it go something like this:


After his return from Rome, Will couldn’t find his luggage in the airport baggage area. He went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that his bags hadn’t shown up on the carousel.

She smiled and told him not to worry because they were trained professionals and he was in good hands.

Then she asked Will, “Has your plane arrived yet?”

Lake_Hood

I ended up contacting Delta and Alaska. I understand it is Delta's responsibility, but I thought it couldn't hurt to contact Alaska as well.

Yeah I knew this, but we weren't getting anywhere with the three individuals I was working with in Amsterdam. By the time we had filed the claim I forgot to ask for this. I was able to get much better help in Athens from the Swissport representatives there. They gave me a toiletry bag, but I ended up buying the absolute essentials, because the contents of the bag were worthless.

This was the biggest issue I had with the whole situation. We asked to speak to a supervisor, but he wasn't anymore help. It was weird to because he was talking to her in Dutch more than he was talking to me. They literally went to DL's website and printed off their number circled it, told us to call it for compensation questions, and instructed us to use our baggage claim number. I tried to push back on this, but I didn't have the time to go any further (this was after all the waiting). By the time I got my cell running (later in the trip) I was able to call Alaska and they were able to track the bag because I had checked in with them in Anchorage.

I had both my laptop and my phone. My phone had unlimited data, so I was planning to use Skype from that. Just needed to keep my laptop charger and power converter on me. I was able to buy a converter in Athens, so I was able to get my phone up and running and was able to use Skype after that. I didn't even realize the battery was low until I got there. I had just left the stupid thing on and in my carry on during the flight. That was a big mistake.

That was the biggest learning experience I had. So the first representative we dealt with was on the floor walking between the carousels with an iPad helping people out. She seemed fairly new and I should have gone to the desk right away. She had us wait there far too long and I eventually just went over to the desk. They told me to wait at the desk as well, but I should have just filed a claim. I could have used the time in the airport to shop and get some fresh cloths. Unfortunately, it was all for not because my bags were left behind in Seattle (according to the Swissport representative in Athens). As there is only only flight per day from Seattle to Amsterdam, I think that is why it took a few days for them to catch up to us.

This is REALLY good to know as well because as I was told by two different people that because they don't have KLM or Swissport reps on the island, it would be our responsibility to pick up the bags.

All in all it was a great honeymoon and we visited a lot of fantastic places. We did get to spend a night in Paris, but it was out at the airport, which really doesn't count. There isn't much out there and it is far from the city. However, outside of out baggage issue and wasting a night in Paris, we really did have a fantastic time.

ou81two

One one segment, the carrier with whom you're arriving are the ones responsible. Was this booked with Alaska miles or something?

I'm not sure what you would complain about. You traveled internationally on multiple different tickets and carriers and you didn't even take toiletries in your carry on bag. The airlines have pretty clear policies around what to do if your luggage is delayed.

There's really not much Alaska can do about their partners. In terms of getting the bags third to last, I'm yet to see this work reliably on any airline and it's not AS's fault of the time it takes to clear immigration, customs and change terminals.

There's a reason why flying on one airline makes life easier. Whenever your bag changes airlines, the chances of something being delayed go up incrementally.